A tomographic approach to inverse mie particle characterization from scattered light

Area of Science:

• Electromagnetism and Optics
• Computational Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Determining the internal electromagnetic field of particles from scattered light is crucial in various scientific fields.
• Existing methods often face challenges with low-contrast objects and noise sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore a novel method for computing the internal electromagnetic field of a homogeneous sphere.
• To develop an empirical algorithm for estimating particle size and refractive index from scattered light.
• To assess the accuracy and robustness of the proposed method under noisy conditions.

Main Methods:

• Utilized empirical observations of scattered light fields from homogeneous spheres.
• Established a Fourier relationship between a component of the internal electric (E) field and scattered light in a preferred plane.
• Developed an empirical algorithm to construct a spherically symmetric particle and estimate its size parameter (ka).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a simple Fourier relationship for low-contrast objects, linking internal E-field and scattered light.
• The proposed algorithm accurately reconstructs a particle of similar diameter and estimates the size parameter (ka).
• Refractive index estimation showed accuracy even with moderate noise for various size parameters.

Conclusions:

• The developed empirical algorithm offers an effective way to compute internal electromagnetic fields from scattered light.
• This method provides accurate estimations of particle size and refractive index, applicable to low-contrast homogeneous spheres.
• The technique shows resilience to moderate noise, enhancing its practical applicability in optical characterization.